The
Independents of Color were largely made up of veterans of the Mambi Army, the Cuban Army of Liberation that defeated the
Spanish in two Wars of Liberation (1868-1878 and 1895 - 1898). Recent
research in Cuba has established that this army was overwhelmingly made up
of Cubans of African descent (80% and perhaps as high as 90%): it was thus
one of the largest slave revolts in the hemisphere. When the
Mambises had all but ejected the Spaniards from Cuba, the plantocracy
allied themselves with the Americans to bring about the American
intervention known as the Spanish American
War in 1898. See the Mambi photo
Gallery - these photos are part of the rarely seen historical stock used in the film.

Evaristo Estenoz founded the Independents of Color in 1908 in order to secure a
rightful share for AfroCubans in a Cuba which had successfully
marginalized them. He was murdered by
Cuban troops in 1912 along with over 6,000 other AfroCubans, mostly fellow
party members, after an intense media campaign carried out by the
plantocracy to demonize the party. As famed sonero Arsenio Rodriguez says:
"Hay que adorarlos como a Martí!", "We have to revere them as we
do Marti!" Historian Aline Helg does an excellent job
reporting all of this in her book, Our Rightful Share, published in
1995.

Roots of my heart is the first treatment
on film of a history that has been largely ignored by both sides of the Florida
Straights.

Gloria Rolando
toured the US in March and April '01 (before the Bush ban on Cuban
artists) to premier the
Spanish language version of the film
there.

A present day AfroCuban woman [Mercedes]
seeks her roots through her family history. Old photos, newspaper clippings jealously
guarded by her grandmother, and her mother's stories reveal her great-grandparents'
history.

The historical truth raises the curtains through a love story. Reality and
fantasy get mixed in, but all the elements integrated into the narration point towards the
central figure, the woman, and to a moving chapter of turn of the century Cuba, when there
occurred a violent repression of the AfroCubans who protested out of the frustration that
fell over Cubans after the War of Independence.

Thousands of descendants of Africans dedicated their lives to the struggle against
Spanish colonialism in Cuba. They also fought against the slave system which kidnapped
men, women, and children from the African continent and converted them into anonymous cogs
of the sugar and coffee plantations. In the War of Independence (1868-78 and 1895-98),
AfroCubans joined the Liberation Army (the Mambises) following the ideas of important
leaders such as Jose Marti, but also inspired by the example of the Black generals of the
War, such as Antonio Maceo, Quintin Banderas, and many others. Unfortunately, at the turn
of the century, AfroCuban veterans felt the contempt of a Republic born distorted and
completely alienated from the principles raised up by Jose Marti: "One Republic with
everyone and for the good of everyone." Racism was part of official injustice.

The process of cultural, economic, and political marginalization of Blacks in Cuba at
thedawn of the present century is connected at a deep level with the fate of other African
Americans up and down the continent. Peruvian, Uruguayan, Venezuelan, Columbian, North
American, Argentinian, Brazilian, and other Blacks saw themselves deprived of their place
of honor in the official history of their own countries.

The protest organized by AfroCubans in 1912 was beaten back by the National Army itself
and ended in a real human massacre which had its main scene in Oriente Province. This is
the synopsis of the story our central figure is going to discover through her family.

Production

Taking into account the scarcity of resources currently available to Images of the
Caribbean, we hope to realize this production in video Beta. [This was
done]. The style of the narrative
discourse is a mixture of fiction and documentary in which we aim to incorporate original
photos and news headlines, supported by the reality of the historical evidence we will
present.

This new project of Images of the Caribbean is directed by the AfroCuban film
maker Gloria Rolando (Director of "Oggun","My
Footsteps in Baraguá," and "Eyes of the Rainbow").

In the development of historical evidence, we count on the prestigious
collaboration of:

- Aline Helg, Associate Professor, University of Texas at
Austin, whose book, "Our Rightful Share" (the AfroCuban struggle for equality
1886 - 1912) has been a source of inspiration in approaching this theme. In 1995, her book
received the Welsey - Logan prize from the Association of American Historians, and in 1997
it received the Elsa Govea prize from the Association of Caribbean Historians. It is out
in Spanish as of June '99 thanks to the Fundacion Ortiz
in Havana.

- Georgina Herrera, AfroCuban poet, novelist, and playwright
focusing especially on black women. She will be contributing a script.

Our objective: to continue in the rescue of our collective memory, in the search for
our roots. To make a contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the history of the
African Diaspora in this century.

We especially call out to universities, women's groups, independent video producers,
foundations, friends, and brothers and sisters to guide us in the process of finding
support, both in terms of financing and in terms of collaboration such as the search for
original photos, information on period costumes, and all the details that go into making a
film.

On Saturday, February 23, 5:00 PM, the City College Center for Worker Education will screen "Roots of My
Heart", Gloria Rolando's film about the 1912 massacre of the Independents of Color Party and their
supporters. The film will be presented by co-producer
Gilberto Martinez and followed by a question and answer period. DVDs of "Roots of My Heart" and other
films by Gloria Rolando will be for sale.

"Roots of My Heart" is the centerpiece of CWE's month-long Black History Month celebration. The event
is free and open to the public.

The Center for Worker Education is located at 25 Broadway, 7th Floor in downtown Manhattan at Bowling
Green (4 or 5 train to Bowling Green stop). Please present photo ID to be admitted to the building. For
more information, contact Deborah Edwards-Anderson at (212) 925-6625, Ext. 235 or
edwa_AT_ccny.cuny.edu [replace _AT_ with @].

Raices de Mi Corazon was aired on Cuban television Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 10pm on Canal
Educativo, 6 years after the film was made. This is an important step for this film which has not received the
recognition it deserves across Cuba, except in several showings in Havana.

The Roots of My Heart is based on the tragic 1912 massacre of 5000-7000 Afro-Cubans who, after independence, organized a political party to fight
for their rights to full employment, education, full political
participation and above all RESPECT AND DIGNITY

All of Rolando’s films all based on the untold histories of Afro-Cuban life
and families

Moderators:

Dr. Georgina Falú
Professor of Afro-Latino History and Culture at City College-CUNY

Las Raices de mi corazón premiered at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí.
The institution's director Eliades Acosta and historian Tomás Fernández
Robaina made the presentation and thanked the video group Imagenes de Caribe for
their contribution in breaking the silence on these very painful and complex
pages in the history of Cuba and that of the African Diaspora.

Next Friday the 16th of February at 4 PM, there will be a second presentation
of Las Raices de mi corazón, this time with a public at the Unión de Escritores y Artístas de Cuba
(UNEAC). [This was a great success, standing room only]

There will be 2 other presentations this month, one on the 20th at 10 AM
in main offices of the Unión de Periodistas de Cuba and another at the La Casa de las Américas
on the 21st at 5 PM [also agreat success, standing room only] as part of the seminars in the International Coloquium
dedicated to the vision and interpretation of history by Latin American and
Caribbean women.

We hope for a well attended session on the 16th at the UNEAC now that the
show has been promoted on Cuban television complete with images from the film,
especially on the show Informativo Cultural Huron Azúl. Several radio shows
have also been promoting the shows. The discussion at the National Library was
very emotional and we enjoyed the presence of all the actors, including the
children, as well as the film crew.

Gloria Rolando

Note that Elvira Cervera, the grande dame of
Cuban actresses, was paid hommage at the National Library for her support of the
film -- she lent her house and her presence for the filming of several scenes.

Merecedes, a Cuban woman from Havana, begins to decipher her family
secrets through the photo of her great-grandparents, María Victoria y
José Julián. Between reality and the world of her dreams, she will
learn about the ties this couple -- especially her great-grandfather --
had with the Independents of Color, a political party formed in
1908. The struggle of these black men and women to create a space for
themselves in Cuban society at the beginning of the 20th century had a
tragic outcome: the massacre of 1912. Many families suffered, but
history imposed a silence, the same silence that surrounds Mercedes'
great-grandparents.

This short feature film is an homage to the Cuban film maker Sara
Gómez and her documentary "Crónica de mi familia"
("Chronicle of my Family")
Actors

On the 1st of April, we began the pre-filming stage of the fiction video,
"Raices de mi corazon," from Images of the Caribbean. The script is by
Gloria Rolando and the AfroCuban poet Georgina Herrera.

After a very interesting research into the period's press and consultations with Cuban
historians, Imágenes del Caribe is in a better position to analyze the casting according
to the historical circumstances we are left with from the protests of the Party of the
Independents of Color. Our research has given us some fascinating results on these
terribly forgotten pages of Cuban history. We are all immersed in an apprenticeship
before developing the characterization of the people in the film.

The conditions of this production are completely atypical: we are trying to guarantee
the filming with a minimum of resources and the aid of friends, neighbors, and family
members who are putting their time and effort in this project of the video group
"Images of the Caribbean".

One of the acts of rescue and important contributions to this material is the
recompilation of old photographs of AfroCubans, especially from the turn of the century.
Images and persons now absent and forgotten call out to be present. Among the
actors slated for the film is the well known Cuban actor Tito Juneo, who has a lot of
experience in Cuban Theatre and is one of the actors in the well known film "The Last
Supper" by Gutierrez Alea.

This fiction video maintains its dedication to the film maker Sara Gomez and her
documentary "Chronicles of my family" ("Cronica de mi Familia").

Note: in her letter to AfroCubaWeb, Gloria added this personal note: "You cannot
imagine the intensity level of the work we are are engaged in. We are overcoming so many
obstacles. No one on the crew has a car or a telephone. How is it possible to
make this movie? Well, walking a lot, calling from public phones. Calling at times
from my mother's phone or from Tony's in-laws, etc. That day we held the big meeting [25
people!] my mother helped me prepare a cold salad. By luck, we still had some tea. I have
become a specialist in pasta and beans. This work is very beautiful as to the result
on the screen, but each detail, even the smallest, requires a lot of management..."

Our group, Images of the Caribbean, continuing in its series of historical themes, is
working on a little known chapter of the history of Cuba and of the African Disapora in
this century: the so-called Little War of 1912, an uprising of the members of the Party of
the Independents of Color. This political movement was transformed into a real massacre in
which over 6,000 AfroCubans were slaughtered as a result of attacks suffered at the hands
of the Cuban Army of that time.

The story has as central character Mercedes,
an AfroCuban habanera, an intellectual, a mother, one of these women we encounter daily in
the streets of Old Havana. Between reality and dreams, Mercedes comes to learn the history
of two of her great grand-parents and their relationship with the Independents of Color.

Thanks to an extraordinary effort of our entire video group, the filming was done in 15
days. We succeeded in filming in Betacam SP with direct sound. The project is now in the
post-production phase: foto-animation of historical material, image editing, musical
composition, and audio processing. Finally, we would like to get to the translation and
English subtitling phase.

Despite material limitations, we have achieved a good artistic level in the quality of
the images. We are therefore soliciting economic assistance for the general editing,
aiming to maintain the quality that this material requires.

Budget for Post-Production: $6,500

"Raices de mi corazon" is a feature film from 45 to 57 minutes long. It is
dedicated to Sara Gomez (1) and her documentary "Cronica de mi familia"

On the set for My Footsteps in Baraguá: Juan
Demosthenes, Tony Romero, Raoul Rodriguez, Gloria Rolando

(1) Sara Gomez Yera: the first woman film-maker in Cuba,
AfroCuban, mother. Her legacy is a valuable set of documentaries and a full length feature
film, "De cierta manera." Died in 1974.

U.S. blind to true colors of Cuba's problemsDeWayne Wickham belongs to the Trotter Group, an association of Black
columnists in the US

DeWayne Wickham, USA Today, 5/30/02

HAVANA, Cuba — Gloria Rolando's short film, Roots
of My Heart, ought to be required viewing in the White House.

Made without the support of the government-run
organization that sanctions and finances much of this island's movie
industry, her film is the story of the massacre of more than 6,000 people
on this Caribbean island, a brutal episode that took place long before
Fidel Castro came to power.

But the story that Rolando tells is the key to
understanding why Castro remains hugely popular among this island's 11
million people and why they largely mistrust Cuban exile leaders in the
United States.

Ever since Castro took control here 43 years ago,
Cubans who fled to south Florida have couched their campaign to oust him
as a democracy movement. Every president from John F. Kennedy to George W.
Bush bought into this ideological struggle without giving much attention
to the historical underpinnings of the revolution that brought Castro to
power.

But one sees scant history of democratic government
in Cuba in the century since it gained independence. For much of this
time, Cuba was a "pigmentocracy" run by a white minority that
mimicked the discriminatory practices of the Jim Crow era in the American
South. Resistance to this racism peaked on the day in 1912 when thousands
of Afro-Cubans — members of a political party called the Independents of
Color — massed on the 10th anniversary of Cuba's independence to protest
the lack of racial equality.

Newspapers controlled by Cuba's white minority
accused the group of wanting to rape white women and impose a black
government on the island. These scare tactics masked the resistance of the
white ruling class to the party's push for racial equality.

In a ghoulish show of contempt, Cuban leaders
honored the soldiers who carried out the massacre with a festive outdoor
dinner in a small Havana park shortly after the slaughter ended.

The deep-seated rage the 1912 massacre produced,
and the following decades of racial oppression, caused the vast majority
of Afro-Cubans to support the revolution that Castro led and to back the
government he now commands.

"Most of the people who fled to Miami are
white; most of the people on this island are of African descent. This is
so for a good reason." Ruben Remigio, the black man who now heads
Cuba's Supreme Court, told me.

Despite Cuba's widespread economic problems, the
quality of life for most Cubans of African descent has improved
dramatically since 1959. They have better health care, vastly more
educational opportunities and a significant presence throughout Cuba's
government. While they are far from satisfied with conditions in this
country, most say they are better off now than they were when Fulgencio
Batista and the white privileged class that backed him dominated life
here.

The anti-Castro movement in the United States is
made up largely of aging members of the white faction that benefited from
Batista's regime or its precursors. The conventional wisdom in the United
States is that Castro is blocking their return to Cuba. The truth for many
in Miami and Washington is harder to swallow.

Before Castro came to power, most white Cubans were
satisfied with the racial stratification that existed here. Most
Afro-Cubans were not.

Today the economic embargo the United States
imposed on this island, which Cuba exile leaders in Miami insist on
maintaining, takes its heaviest toll on Afro-Cubans. This is so because of
a loophole that permits U.S. Cubans to send as much as $1,200 a year (a
princely sum in Cuba) to relatives in this country.

Since most who fled Cuba are white, the money they
send to people here goes largely to white Cubans, leaving Afro-Cubans to
bear the brunt of the embargo's effects. The resulting economic imbalance
and its source is not lost on Afro-Cubans who vow never to allow the
exiles to regain a position of power and privilege in Cuba.

This history of racial oppression, not Castro's
communist regime, is what undermines efforts to improve relations between
the United States and Cuba.